Painted Rose
by aertysku
Summary: It starts with the Together Forever ending. After 10 years, Ib and Mary finally revisit the art gallery. However, when they return, they are forced back into Guertena's world. Ib must remember what had happened in the gallery ten years ago and find a way out. At the same time, she must realize the truths hidden away in this world and bring back Garry.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: The game "Ib" and its characters and everything does not belong to me**

Prologue:  
_Together Forever_

_._

_._

"Garry…" Ib whispered. Her deep red eyes were full of worry and a hint of fright.

Garry shifted uncomfortably

They were in the Toy box. Mary had pushed them down. That was pretty troublesome since it was a large and dim area, but then Ib had lost her rose. And now Mary has it.

Mary was smiling sweetly, but Ib knew behind that mask of a sweet and cute girl was a monster. "So, what do you say? Trade me Gary's blue rose for your red one?" She giggled. "Blue! I love blue. It's so pretty! I love red too! And yellow! And all the colors in the world! Hee hee… Which one do you want? Blue or red?"

Ib averted her gaze to the roses. She said nothing.

An uncomfortable silence grew between the three and one doll. Ib was about to speak up, to tell Garry that it was fine, to keep his, when Gary spoke aloud.

"I'll trade it." His voice was calm and determined. Ib stared at Garry in total shock. What was he doing?! Mary's smile grew wider, then laughed.

"Yay! Okay, okay! Let's trade! Red for blue, blue for red," she giggled. She held out Ib's rose. The blue and gruesome looking doll jumped a few times as Garry took his blue rose out of his long and worn out coat. They traded.

Mary laughed. "Blue! A blue rose~! A bluuuue rooooose! Isn't it beautiful? Heh heh… Haha…hahaha… Hahahhahaa.. HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA HHAHAHAHA!" She screeched and suddenly, she sped off somewhere, away from Ib and Garry. The doll went limp.

"…" Garry sighed, but he turned to Ib and smiled. Ib was still quite shocked, but she managed to meet Gary's gaze. Ib whispered sadly, "I'm so sorry…" She felt terrible. It was all her fault that Mary got Garry's rose. If she had been more careful... if she was paying more attention… Ib felt the warm tears well up in her eyes, and slowly snaked down her slightly pale face. Then she felt a gentle hand touch her shoulder. She looked up.

Garry smiled, and said, "What are you talking about? None of this is your fault, Ib. Everything is gonna be fine, okay? So don't worry… or cry." He patted her head. Ib warmed up inside; she liked it when Garry patted her head. It was very comforting, and made her feel close to him.

"Now let's get out of here—" The lights suddenly flickered. The room slowly got dimmer…and dimmer… Even in the dark, Ib could see Garry pale. He whispered, "This is…it's just like last time…" Suddenly everything in the room started to move. The dolls, the statues, and every freaky thing got up with strange life, and headed toward the two.

Garry grabbed her hand and yelled, "Run!" They ran quickly, by fright and to escape, speeding past the frightening creations of Guertena.

"There!" Garry shouted and dragged Ib along to a staircase with two large unmoving dolls stood by the entrance. The hurried past the things and ran up the staircase. They climbed in possibly a speed so fast that, if they had performed such a thing in the real world, it would have become a record. As they came to the top, they slowed down and gasped for air. Mary was nowhere in sight. They began to walk, following the hall, when they heard Mary's voice, in a singing voice.

"Loves me…loves me not…!" That was when Ib noticed the petals. _Blue…petals…?_ Garry gasped with pain.

Ib looked at him. "Garry?" He forced a smile. "I'm alright. Nothing to worry about, okay, Ib?"

x

x

_I noticed the rose petals on the floor. Apparently Ib did not notice. Nor am I gonna tell her…_

_I can't let her worry, I told myself, again and again. _

_But then she did, right as the little psycho blondie started singing. What the hell is she doing… I thought to myself. Just then, I felt a stabbing pain in my stomach. I didn't want her to know, but I gasped aloud._

_Shit, I thought. She turned around with a blank expression, as usual, but her eyes told me that she was like, What happened?! Then I told her I'm okay._

_I felt bad for lying, but I can't let her stay here. She has to move on… She has to get out of here. _

_Away from this corrupted and horrifying world._

x

x

Ib touched Garry's hand lightly. "…Alright… I guess…" She was staring right into Garry's eyes. He quickly averted his gaze, then said, "Let's go."

Then Mary's voice came again. The two hurried along, and right when they were in the middle of the hallway, Garry fell. Ib suddenly stopped in her tracks and stared at him.

"Garry—"

"…I'm okay. I'll…just stay here…and rest up a bit…" Garry's voice was getting weaker by the second. He didn't hide it. Ib blinked and nodded. Her eyes showed relief and understanding. Garry gestured her to hurry up. And she did.

_x_

_x_

_…Her eyes…they showed understanding…_

_As if. She didn't understand what was happening to me. I sighed inwardly, as pain continued to stab me in random places. I shouldn't be lying I told myself. I shouldn't have said I was resting…_

_"But then wouldn't telling the truth make her suffer? Won't it make her cry?" a little voice whispered inside my head._

_Oh well… I am telling the truth… sort of…. It is a type of resting, isn't it? I stared at the other wall of the hallway. Everything was getting blurry. I couldn't recognize anything. My vision was getting dimmer._

_"Ib…" I whispered sadly._

_I closed my eyes._

x

x

Ib ran and ran, even though she didn't have much distance to cover. She quickly caught up to Mary, who was one floor above the previous floor Garry was resting in. She was singing, in her giggling and falsely sweet voice.

"Love me not…" She tore a petal off. "Love me…" The rose was almost gone. Two petals. But even so, even though Ib, was right there…

She couldn't move. She felt fear run through her and grasp her tightly. All she could do was watch Mary tear off the remaining two petals.

"Love me not… …LOVE ME!" She screamed with a laugh. She was grinning widely. "Heehee..heehee….ahahahhahahHAHAHA!" Then she left the room. Suddenly, Ib could move again.

On instinct, or for any strange reason, she ran downstairs and towards Garry.

She saw him, sitting against the wall.

"Garry!" She smiled to herself. She walked over to his body and poked him.

"Ah," she said. "You're cold. Sheesh!" She smiled a bit. "You're already an adult, yet you don't remember to cover yourself up before you sleep." Ib proceeded to button up his coat, but realized he had no buttons or zippers. So she took the coat the wrapped him up. Then she hugged him.

"You're so cold…" Ib realized that no matter how long she held him there, he was not getter warmer. Garry was getter colder.

"Garry!" she cried. She shook him, yet, he did not budge. Her eyes welled up with large tears, yet quickly wiped them away. _Why am I crying… why do I feel so sad? He's only sleeping…_

"I must get going," Ib commanded herself. But first she checked his pockets. One of them contained a lighter. Ib did not touch it.

Then she ran.

And ran.

She ignored the stairs that were covered by thorns.

She exited the room, and came out to the little "town", as one might call it. She ran to pink house and quickly unlocked the door with the pink key she picked up earlier in the toy box, before she and Garry had found Mary down there.

In the house were stairs leading down. Ib ran down. She ended up in the art museum. Everything was dark. But she wasn't paying attention to anything. She was busying dealing with the strange and overwhelming emotions of sadness. _Why am I sad? _She asked herself over and over as she rushed the painting she had come from, into this world.

The ? World.

The painting flickered with light. It changed.

And on instinct, Ib jumped into it.

Once Ib was gone, Mary walked toward the painting. She smiled.

And jumped in.

.

.

.

Ib blinked. _What was I doing again? _She stood in front of a long painting.

But she quickly shrugged off the question and headed toward the lobby. There, her mother and father were waiting, along with…

"Ib! There you are!" A girl with blonde hair and blue eyes rushed over as Ib came down the stairs form the other floor. "Did you hear that? Mommy and Dad said we're going to a café! Heehee! I'm so excited. Aren't you too, Ib?"

Ib smiled a happy smile. "Of course I am, Mary!"

Mary giggled, and said, "Yay!"

While they were driving to the café, Ib suddenly stuck her hand into her pocket. She found something. She pulled out her hand. It was candy.

Mary saw it and gasped. "That's… Oooooh! Candy! I want it!"

Ib was handing it to Mary, but hesitated.

_Why… do I feel so sad?_

As Ib was about to pull her hand away, Mary snatched the candy away from Ib's hand. She unwrapped the candy, and plopped it into her mouth.

Mary giggled. "Mmm…this is yummy! Thanks, Ib!"

Ib nodded. Mary suddenly stopped smiling. She stared at Ib, and said, "Ib…We'll be together…forever, right?"

Ib looked at Mary curiously, then grinned a bit. "Of course! We're sisters, aren't we?"

Mary's stormy ocean eyes settled down. She held out her hand. "Forever? Promise?"

Ib laughed. "Forever! And promise!"

They shook hands.

_We'll be together, forever, and ever…_

* * *

**A/N: First fanfic. I hope you enjoyed this!**

**A/N: (1/23/13) It seemed that the formatting was incorrect, so I updated all of them so it would be easier to read. =3=''**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1  
_Ib and Mary_

_._

_._

"I—b!" Mary's voice called from the first floor of the house. "Are you there?"

The two sisters lived in the same house. They went to the same college; it was quite close to where they lived. Mary was studying history, and Ib majored in art.

"Of course I am, Mary, just wait a sec," Ib called back to her sister. Ib studied the new painting. It depicted a little girl, her back facing the viewer. Her dark brown hair shone; she wore a plain white shirt and a red skirt. She was looking at a wide painting. And in that painting was a cluster of random things that she had seen at the art gallery she visited when she was nine. It was more of a collage, really. But Ib wasn't done with this.

Or at least, she thought to herself. She had finished adding all the colors and details. She knew she was truly done, but she felt something was missing. Something very important…

"Ib!" Mary called again. Ib jumped in her seat. "Alright, alright! I'm coming!" Ib lay down the unused brush and hurried downstairs to where Mary was.

When Ib got there (the kitchen table), see saw that Mary was sitting down, wearing a light orange dress, with her blonde hair tumbling down past her shoulders. A hair pin with a little flower design was stuck to the left side, tucking the bangs behind. Mary said, "Guess what Ib! Mom and Dad said we're going to the art gallery tomorrow!" She giggled.

"Really?!" Ib gasped, excited by the news. She was always longing to go there, but for some reason, Mary wouldn't let her. Ib could have not listened to her, but since they were sisters, and best friends, she decided to be nice and follow Mary's rules. Plus Mary was older by one year. But what bothered Ib the most was why Mary had agreed this time. "Why so suddenly?"

Mary laughed, and said, "Well, it's been ten years since we last went there… I guess they wanted to celebrate? I don't really know myself. It's weird. But…"

"But what?"

Mary stared into nothing. Her gaze was blank.

Then she quickly said, "Nooothing~!" She stood up while grinning, and patted her on the back. "We should seriously prepare dinner. It's already six; they'll be here at seven thirty."

"Alright. I'll clean up rooms, so they won't make such a fuss when they come, ok?" Ib questioned Mary. Ib would have quickly gone and done all that, but Mary would get angry. She would only let Ib in when Mary let her. It had happened ten years ago, a few weeks after the gallery. Ib was trying to tell Mary that dinner was ready, since Mary didn't respond when their parents called them. So Ib walked over to the other side of the second floor, and knocked on the door. Mary didn't respond, so Ib opened the door. Right when she did that, both girl's gaze's locked together for a second; Ib hadn't gotten the chance to look around the room. Mary had screamed something that was incomprehensible, and before Ib knew it, Mary had both hands tightly locked around Ib's neck. Both were on the floor. Ib was gasping for air, for help, but no one came. And just as fast as the hands grabbed her neck, the hands quickly withdrew. Mary had such a violent look in her eyes during that sudden moment that Ib grew terribly frightened and didn't speak to Mary for days. Mary had apologized with tears in her eyes.

Mary hesitated. "…I'll clean my own room. But thank you for the offer, Ib." Then she added quickly: "Ah, how about you make dinner, and I'll clean up both of our rooms?" Before Ib could reply, Mary hurried upstairs. Ib sighed and took a few steps into the kitchen and put on the apron.

"Now, what shall we eat?" Ib stood there and thought. _Soup: Mom likes simple chicken noodle soup, Dad likes anything, Mary likes corn with egg soup…and I like cream cheese potato soup. /sigh/ Main dish…oh gosh. I'm not gonna think about it. This is just SO frustrating. I wish Mary would cook; she's much better than me._

Ib sighed and shook her head. "I guess I'll just make dessert. Hm…I think I'll make apple pie," she decided. "Now I gotta get the ingredients—"

"_Save some for me too!" _

Ib was bending over, looking into the cabinets. She straightened up so suddenly that her head felt a bit dizzy. "W-who's there?!"Ib noticed her heart was beating rapidly. She quickly looked all around the kitchen. "What—"

"…_You…" _The voice faltered. It sounded somehow familiar. _"Wow, you sure got a lot more violent than before."_ The voice was soft.

Ib glanced at her hand; she realized she was holding a fork. "Uh…sure…? But, who the hell are you?"

"_So you don't remember… Ib it's me! Remember? The gallery? The painting that—dammit. She's here. I'll tell you later if I can…"_

"Hey…" Ib called out to nothing. The voice did not respond. Then she heard footsteps on the stairs.

When Mary came in, Ib was silent, but she greeted Mary with a slight smile. But Mary returned a slight frown of disappointment on her face. "You didn't cook anything?"

"Ah!" Ib realized that quite a long time had passed since she was thinking about dinner. She glanced at the clock set above the dinner table. Thirty minutes had gone by. _How could had such a long time go by in what seemed like a few minutes?_ Ib looked down, a bit embarrassed. "I guess I was so busy thinking of my painting that I wandered off."

Mary giggled, and said, "Really? But you're done, aren't you?"

Ib paled a bit. That was right, she had told Mary that she was done the other day. Ib obviously couldn't tell Mary about the voice; she'd think Ib was hallucinating and going crazy or something. She was skimming through her head for any possible excuses, when Mary shrugged, saying, "It's okay—after all, Ib's already in the age for a boyfriend!" She smirked.

"Mary!" Ib felt her ears redden a bit.

"Haha, okay, whatever! Let's start cooking, sheesh."

.

.

.

Ib sighed.

That was a great dinner. Mary and she had just finished cooking everything, when their parents turned up. Happily, the food was fresh and hot. After they had eaten the main course and all, they ate dinner, chatted, and laughed. It was a very merry moment.

Now Ib lay in her bed in her pajamas, blankets covering her. She stared at the ceiling. It was almost midnight, but Ib was just too excited to sleep.

And a little scared. The voice had frightened her; it seemed like that moment in her life came out of a horror movie or something. But peace was already settling over her. Her mind grew calmer, and she was just about to fall asleep, when…

"_Come…!" _

Ib jumped, and in a flash, was up and the lights in her room was on.

"Wha—?!"

"_Ib. You've got to come back, you hear me?" _

Ib was startled by what the voice said. It was the same as one from the kitchen. "'Come back'? Wait what—"

"_Come back Ib. Come back…you have to come back…! Ignore that psycho's demands! Come back and save him…"_

"… …_Remember…"_ The voice faded. Ib paled. _Remember? Remember what? And what was that all about?_ Ib glanced at the painting*.

She blinked and turned off the lights. She quickly got into bed and fell asleep.

But before she did, a little question formed in her head.

_Was that… an ant in the painting? When did it get there…? _But Ib wasn't able to think about it anymore, for she was already fast asleep.

* * *

***It's referring to the painting mentioned in the beginning.**

**A/N: Augh the formats ;a;**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ib.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ib or its contents.**

* * *

Chapter 2  
_The Gallery, Once Again_

_._

_._

It was a rainy and windy day. Ib and Mary's mother had trouble keeping her hood on; stuff kept getting into Ib's eyes. The wind was strong, blowing the freezing cold air into their faces. The rain was coming down hard, hitting the umbrellas in a rapid rhythm. They had quite a way to walk, since the closer spaces were already filled.

So when the family finally stumbled into the warm and dry museum lobby, all sighed with relief. They closed their umbrellas and hurriedly pay their admission fee.

"Alright, honey bunches," their mother said, once they paid the things and all. Her chocolate brown hair was tied in a bun. "You guys can look around by yourselves while your father and I get ask for information and all. It seems we're getting old... We forgot everything here." She gave a light laugh, and motioned the daughters off.

The two decided to go up the stairs, which were on the right of the reception desk. They walked around, admiring each piece of art. The strokes stood out; the thin lines of each bristle of the brush seem to show lightly. Each detail was carefully painted, making the pieces clean and clear when wanted. The statues were carefully crafted, but one could not see the small details, for the more-than-arm-length of space around each statue was blocked off so no one could touch it.

It was beautiful. Ib admired Guertena's art greatly. Although she didn't like to say it, since it sounded like she was boasting, she thought her art was pretty good, too. Once in a while she would make a mistake or accidentally smudge a part of a painting that had not dried yet. Those times would piss her off. But she knew she was not perfect.

Ib really wanted to wander off and look at the ones she loved the most, but Mary said no.

So the two merrily strolled through the gallery, and looked at every painting, unless there was a little crowd in front of one.

A while later, Mary suddenly said, "I need to go use the restroom, Ib. Stay here and don't wander off okay?" They were standing in front of the Embodiment of Spirit. The two had just gotten there.

"All right." Ib shrugged. Mary nodded and then quickly left to the restroom.

Taking the advantage of Mary's absence, Ib studied the statue carefully.

It was a red rose, much larger than one from real life; it was around Ib's height. Each petal was a deep red, the rims curling and thin. A few petals littered the ground. The stem, which had thorns, was straight from the flower itself to the floor, in which turned and curled in a circle around the rose.

Then Ib suddenly had a strong urge to jump over the railings and touch the rose. It looked so real, as if the petals would quickly be blown away by a strong gust of wind.

The soft petals floating in the gentle wind, the sweet scent of flowers filling the air… Ib blinked, and realized her arm had been somewhat stretched out, in an unconscious attempt to touch the rose. She quickly withdrew her arm and looked around. She wanted to see more paintings.

And so she sneaked away. She turned a 180 and walked straight forward.

Then she noticed something, and paused. She turned to her left.

There was a painting.

In a hallway.

Which had never been there before.

Startled, Ib backed up against the opposite wall, which was completely blank. _They must have expanded this place a little or added this part,_ she thought to herself. Assured that this was just an adjustment to the gallery, she approached the painting. It was titled, "_The Forgotten Portrait"._

It was beautiful. It depicted a man, with messy and a purple hair, with deeper purple strands from the middle. His hair covered his face, but only one eye could be seen. Coming from his closed eye was what must have been a tear that had already traveled to his chin. He sat slumped against a wall. His gray-ish dark blue coat was draping over his shoulders and onto the floor and covering his body. A small piece of his green shirt could be seen. On the border of the painting, there were many fully bloomed and bright blue roses that looked fresh, and dark green stems with small thorns curling around the scene behind the roses.

It was truly an enchanting and impressive painting. However, Ib felt an overwhelming pang of grief and guilt as she stared at the painting.

Then Ib noticed something. There was a small black dot on the ground, next to the man. Just like the one she found after she finished her painting of a wide piece of art that depicts everything from the gallery.

It was…an ant.

Ib blinked out of surprise. What was it doing here? But before she could say anything to the ant, even if it would make her look foolish, the lights flickered.

On and off.

And then—

Nothing.

Silence and darkness enveloped Ib as she unknowingly fell back into the same terrify world that she had once entered and left, but forgotten.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait ~ **


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Merry Christmas (day) guys! I guess you can say this is a little present from me -3- ~~ Well, I hope you enjoy this! **

**And I'll say thank you now to the followers of this story, and the readers~**

* * *

Chapter 3  
_Entering_

_._

_._

Ib felt strangely calm.

When if blacked out, she had expected to freak and everything, but instead, she just stood there and waited for her eyes to adjust. She could make out most things. She glanced at the portrait, as if expecting something to happen to it.

Nothing did.

So Ib decided to start walking around and get out of the museum. As she left the hallway, she paused and realized something. She could not hear the storm outside. Just a moment ago, before the power outage, she could hear it clearly. Also, there were no usual screams and cries of children, nor the alarmed shouting of the adults. It was just dead silence, with the exception of her own movements and breathing. She decided to explore this place. However, before she could take another step, footsteps came in a fast and loud pace right at Ib. She spun around, only to get her face hit.

"Ow!" Ib cried, and looked at who or what crashed into her. It was Mary.

She was panting and then she managed to gasp out, "What did you do?!"

Ib didn't need her five senses or anyone to tell her that Mary was furious. She could just tell by the atmosphere. It was boiling and making Ib a little nervous.

"W-what do you mean?" Ib was startled by Mary's sudden question and her rage. It sounded as if _she_ caused this blackout while she was looking at some really neat painting. Really now.

"You—you…!" Mary seethed, but stopped and took a deep breath. "What…did you do?"

"I don't get what you mean, Mary," Ib said nervously. "What do you mean by what did I do? I was wandering around, looking at paintings and then this happened!"

Ib could see Mary scowl. "How—wait. You _wandered off_?" Ib didn't meet Mary's piercing gaze.

"Tch! Whatever; forget it. That's not important. What painting did you last see?"

"Uh…" Ib searched for the name. "Er, it was… _The_…" Ib's voiced trailed off. What was it? _I can't remember, _Ib thought frantically. _Even though I just read it a minute ago, and I'm really good at remembering painting names!_ "Um, Mary. I think I forgot…"

"_What?!_" Mary's voice sounded so shocked that Ib was jumped a little. "How?! This…"

Mary stomped her feet, and hissed, "Of course! It's him!"

"Who?"

Mary took Ib's hand tightly. "Nothing. We should…explore, I guess."

Ib nodded, even though she wasn't sure Mary could see. Ib decided to start from the beginning, at the lobby. She dragged Mary along as they walked cautiously on the tiled floor. They went back down the stairs and turned to the door.

It was a large wooden door, so you couldn't see outside, or inside. Ib grabbed the handles of the door and pulled. Nothing happened. Then she tried to push the door, but it didn't budge that way either. It was stuck, or locked.

Ib scowled. She marched over to the window, and looked outside. It was dark. Really dark; Ib could not make out anything. Ib frowned. "Why—"

Red paint suddenly splashed onto the window from the other side, streaming down.

Ib stepped back in surprise. Mary gripped Ib's hand. "Oh great golly gosh," Mary gasped. Ib said nothing, and turned and hurried up the stairs again. Just as they passed another window, Ib thought she saw a figure running from outside. She continued her way, trying to not mind it, with Mary close behind, when suddenly:

_BANG! BANG!_ Mary's grasp tightened again. Ib spun around to look at the window, where hand prints were on it. She felt a chill down her spine.

_What a sick joke,_ Ib thought. _Locking us in, with everyone gone, and trying to scare us!_

"Let's go, Mary." Ib said aloud, and dragged Mary, who squeaked in alarm of Ib's sudden voice, across to the other side of the floor. Ib observed every painting, which were the same as always. The duo continued around the museum, when Ib thought she saw something move.

Ib and Mary stopped in front of the _Lady in Red_. Ib stared at the painting.

Nothing happened. Ib sighed, and just as she was about to move on, the painting blinked. Ib gasped inside. _That had to be something that I imagined, _Ib thought. _There's no way paintings can move!_ And that was when the fruits in the next painting fell out and rolled away on the floor. Mary jumped.

"God dammit!" Ib was pissed. "Ugh!" She hurried down the stairs and into the first floor's room of displays.

When they entered the room, they heard a noise. It sounded like water.

"Now what?" Mary questioned to no one. However, Ib noticed that Mary was looking at her oddly. Ib shrugged that off and walked forward, to the painting.

_The Abyss of the Deep_.

It was a new painting when they came here 10 years ago. It had displayed a large gray fish with rows of sharp and unorderly teeth, its jaws opening wide around much smaller fish. But that was then. Now, the fish was a little distorted, as something like waves were moving across the painting. Then Ib realized it was real waves.

It was water. And the fish were moving.

Ib glared pointedly at the used-to-be-painting. "God. This is just like last time! At least make the big fish eat the small ones already!"

Ib blinked. What…?

She then realized Mary was looking at her quite strangely. Ib frowned. "What was that? That sounded like this happened before… But that makes no sense…" Mary poked Ib. "Um, are you okay Ib?" Her voice sounded slightly dangerous, but Ib was too busy questioning herself to notice.

"Alright, Mary," Ib said. Mary looked at her. "This might sound pretty stupid, but I think we should jump in there." Mary's expression became bewildered. "_What?!" _

"Well, since we can't get out through doors, and really random crap is happening in this gallery that is not supposed to happen, why not just try stupid things? I mean, well, if we die, we can escape this freaky place." Ib sounded slightly cheerful. Mary sighed and stared into the waters. Her blue eyes became dangerous and stormy, like when the sea is…well, stormy.

"That son of a… Fine," Mary said through gritted teeth, and grabbed Ib's hand. Ib glanced at Mary curiously.

"Alright."

Ib led the way to where, she noticed, there was blue paint. It was splattered on the floor. She stared at the fish. The fish stopped moving, and it seemed to stare back, as if it was saying, _What are you waiting for? Go on._

Ib shook her head. This must have been the stupidest thing she had ever done in her life. Jumping in a pool that magically appeared, with a large fish with sharp teeth that could shred her into pieces? Ib sighed, and took a deep breath. Mary did the same, still looking at Ib.

Then they jumped.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 5  
_Found_

_._

_._

"_They're here~!" The man's voice sang aloud. _

_I looked around, but there was still no sign of that man. It was as if he had no body to begin with. "'They're?'" I questioned quietly._

"_Yes, 'they're'. The two of them." The voice sounded impatient. "Can't you just use the glass ball over there? I made that specifically for someone to see the anything they want. Everything in this room has a purpose, you know!" The glass ball rolled itself over to where I sat. I took it in my hand. It was smooth and seemed to be made out of glass. Inside was some kind of white, milky substance that was hinted with the colors of the rainbow. There was a sticker on it. _

Observe, _it was titled._

"_How do I use this?" I asked. _

"_Just close your eyes and picture whoever you want to see. However, the image in your mind has to be the same as what the person looks like. Face, hair, and clothes. I don't think height counts though." A little rabbit came hopping up to me. So he decided to come in rabbit form, huh?_

_I closed my eyes and concentrated. _Ib, _I thought. I pictured a girl with long brown hair with red eyes wearing a collared, white long-sleeved shirt with a little red bow; a red skirt and black socks that were knee-length, and red shoes. I prayed that she would be wearing these things, but I highly doubted that she would._

_And when I opened my eyes, I was quite surprised by what I saw in the sphere. Indeed, there was a girl with brown hair and red eyes, wearing the exact same thing that she had worn ten years ago. Everything was the same, except this time, she was taller and well…she was more like a woman now._

_She was in the green room; the second room. _

_Ib was in the hallway, where arms popped out from the walls. She walked past them quite casually, as if she was in a park on a Sunday afternoon, and the waving arms were nothing but unnoticeable dust specks floating around. Her face showed no sign of fright, or pain, even though I saw the wound on her arm._

_I felt terribly sad inside. I haven't seen her in such a long time. She's been here with me before, we've gone through this entire thing together, yet..._

"_She forgot me, didn't she?" I whispered. I put the glass ball down and closed my eyes and thought. I really wanted her to remember. But how am I supposed to do such a thing like that? Wave a wand and say some magical words, or do some witchcraft, like cutting up dolls and doing whatever, and use all that magic and enchant some object to give it to her? _

_The idea was so stupid I almost chuckled._

_I closed my eyes and sighed. What am I supposed to do?_

"_Why don't you just go and see her yourself?" the man asked._

_I shook my head. "No, I can't. The second person…" My voice trailed off._

_I picked up the glass ball again and stared. The second person… could it be…?_

_I shut my eyes again, and pictured a girl. A girl with long curly blonde hair, blue eyes, a green dress and black shoes. And once again, just like Ib, she wore the same thing the last time I saw her. She had actually aged. _

Mary…_ I thought. So Ib didn't kill her, huh? Well I can't expect Ib to, since she was only nine years old then; she's now nineteen… _

_I blinked. Nineteen. Wow. Now we're close in age… I slapped my forehead._

"_What on earth am I thinking about?*" I spluttered.***** I shook my head, then I thought about Mary. That painting (or now-human-but-was-once-a-painting?) had a fake rose-a yellow one… does she have one now? _

_A rose…_

_An idea popped into my head. Maybe..._

"_What are you doing?" the man pressed. I ignored him._

_I stuck my hand in my own pocket, and carefully took the object out. Just maybe..._

_I held out my blue rose in front of me. With a hint of hope, I stood up and began searching the piles of the things in the room._

"_Everything in this room has a purpose, you know!" _

_That's what the man had said._

_x_

_x_

The waving arms that appeared out of nowhere from the walls weren't bothersome. What _was _bothersome was that the door was locked.

"Another key?" Ib glared at the doorknob. "This is stupid." Ib marched back to the column and headed to the other hallway.

On the walls were four paintings. _Prologue. Chapter One. Chapter Two. Last Chapter._ Each depicted a stage of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Ib frowned. She had never seen these in the gallery before…

At the end of the hallway was another door. She opened it and came into the room. There was a hole in the middle of the floor, stretching from wall to wall. A broken painting frame was placed in the middle. On the floor by it, was a painting.

A spider eating the butterfly. Ib shuddered. She looked back at the broken painting. Then she remember the ant, saying something about its painting being used. _So I used it to cross, huh? Damn, I was evil. Poor ant. _

Ib took the spider and butterfly painting and placed it over the gap. Carefully, she stepped on it and quickly crossed. The painting tore, but it did not have a hole in the middle like the ant painting. Ib sighed and opened the door on this side of the room.

She entered it and observed what was in it, which was not much at all. It was empty, except for something on the ground. Ib walked forward, when something on the wall caught her eye. She turned to look at it.

It was a sign, like the little ones under paintings that state the title. Ib went over to read it.

_Epilogue._ Ib stared at it for a second, confused. Then she realized—it was the title of the spider and butterfly painting.

"That's a horrible story," Ib noted. She turned around and walked toward the object. She bent down and picked it up. It was a green key.

"What's the point of putting this in an empty room?" Just as she spoke, a _thunk_ resounded in the room. Ib jumped in surprise, and spun toward the source of a sound.

Something had dropped by the door. Ib hurried over.

A pair of glasses and a blue petal. Ib stood there for a second, staring at it.

Finally, she gave a little laugh. "Pfft! What the heck! That's so random, Ga…" She blinked. What was that? She knew she was saying a name, but when she tried to remember, nothing came up. Ib glared the glasses, as if to say, _It's all your fault!_

Then she bent down to pick up the glasses and petal. Hesitantly, Ib put the pair of glasses on. Her vision did not change. Then she held up the petal. _What am I supposed to do with this?_

She looked at it, and then—

"_IB!"_

Ib dropped the petal in shock. Her attention turned to the person at the door.

"Oh…" Ib blinked.

"I was so worried! Where-? Wait; forget it. Actually, _I_ was the one who got lost…"

"Ah… Well, I'm sorry anyways, Mary." Ib gave Mary a small grin. Ib searched for the petal; it had fluttered off somewhere.

"Where is it…?" Ib looked around. Then she spotted it by Mary's foot.

"What?" Mary looked at Ib, then the petal. Mary's eyes widened.

"Ib," she suddenly said coldly. "What's with the glasses?"

"Oh, um, it kinda fell on the floor after I picked up the key for the other door." Ib took it off and waved it. "Along with the blue petal," she added.

Mary's gaze locked onto the glasses, then to the petal again. "…Those are useless Ib. They do nothing. Give them to me." She glared at Ib.

Ib held the glasses tightly. "What? Why? I'm sure that these two can give us a clue on getting out of here or something."

Mary's eyes became dangerous; Ib instantly regretted it. She expected Mary to lash out at her again.

Suddenly her face became calm. "Okay, fine, I'll just tell you. Just earlier I ran into the same thing. A pair of glasses dropped along with a petal. I put it on, and looked at the petal, thinking the same thing, that it would help me. But then I saw a man… He was telling me that if I pulled the petals off, I would get out of this world, and that you had done the same." She hesitated. "So I tried, but then I ended up getting myself injured—see?" Mary rolled up her sleeves to her elbows, to show a gash from her elbow to her wrist. Ib gasped a little.

"O-oh, I see," Ib muttered. "Then, what about your wound? Are you alright?"

Mary snorted. "I could ask the same to you, Ib, How can _you_ move around with a injury like that too?" Mary gestured to Ib; Ib went over and gave the two items to her. "Anyways, I'm okay. The pain ceased after a while."

"That's good," Ib smiled. Just as she said that, the door slammed shut, and the lights shut off. Ib was immediately on guard. "What now?!"

_Thump._ The lights lit up again. And on the other side of the room, was a headless statue, wearing a red dress. It was just eerily standing there.

"Wha…."

The statue took a step forward.

Then it burst into a run.

* * *

**A/N: I progressed the story a bit! ;a; /cries in happiness/ **

**Well, it seems the duo are in a bit of a trouble here ~ *u* **

**I changed a few things on purpose, but some on accident, since I forgot the exact stuff ~**

**Also: _*_: don't worry, he's not thinking anything bad ~ =u=**


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
_Found_

"_They're here~!" The man's voice sang aloud. _

_I looked around, but there was still no sign of that man. It was as if he had no body to begin with. "'They're?'" I questioned quietly._

"_Yes, 'they're'. The two of them." The voice sounded impatient. "Can't you just use the glass ball over there? I made that specifically for someone to see the anything they want. Everything in this room has a purpose, you know!" The glass ball rolled itself over to where I sat. I took it in my hand. It was smooth and seemed to be made out of glass. Inside was some kind of white, milky substance that was hinted with the colors of the rainbow. There was a sticker on it. _

Observe, _it was titled._

"_How do I use this?" I asked. _

"_Just close your eyes and picture whoever you want to see. However, the image in your mind has to be the same as what the person looks like. Face, hair, and clothes. I don't think height counts though." A little rabbit came hopping up to me. So he decided to come in rabbit form, huh?_

_I closed my eyes and concentrated. _Ib, _I thought. I pictured a girl with long brown hair with red eyes wearing a collared, white long-sleeved shirt with a little red bow; a red skirt and black socks that were knee-length, and red shoes. I prayed that she would be wearing these things, but I highly doubted that she would._

_And when I opened my eyes, I was quite surprised by what I saw in the sphere. Indeed, there was a girl with brown hair and red eyes, wearing the exact same thing that she had worn ten years ago. Everything was the same, except this time, she was taller and well…she was more like a woman now._

_She was in the green room; the second room. _

_Ib was in the hallway, where arms popped out from the walls. She walked past them quite casually, as if she was in a park on a Sunday afternoon, and the waving arms were nothing but unnoticeable dust specks floating around. Her face showed no sign of fright, or pain, even though I saw the wound on her arm._

_I felt terribly sad inside. I haven't seen her in such a long time. She's been here with me before, we've gone through this entire thing together, yet..._

"_She forgot me, didn't she?" I whispered. I put the glass ball down and closed my eyes and thought. I really wanted her to remember. But how am I supposed to do such a thing like that? Wave a wand and say some magical words, or do some witchcraft, like cutting up dolls and doing whatever, and use all that magic and enchant some object to give it to her? _

_The idea was so stupid I almost chuckled._

_I closed my eyes and sighed. What am I supposed to do?_

"_Why don't you just go and see her yourself?" the man asked._

_I shook my head. "No, I can't. The second person…" My voice trailed off._

_I picked up the glass ball again and stared. The second person… could it be…?_

_I shut my eyes again, and pictured a girl. A girl with long curly blonde hair, blue eyes, a green dress and black shoes. And once again, just like Ib, she wore the same thing the last time I saw her. She had actually aged. _

Mary…_ I thought. So Ib didn't kill her, huh? Well I can't expect Ib to, since she was only nine years old then; she's now nineteen… _

_I blinked. Nineteen. Wow. Now we're close in age… I slapped my forehead._

"_What on earth am I thinking about?*" I spluttered.***** I shook my head, then I thought about Mary. That painting (or now-human-but-was-once-a-painting?) had a fake rose-a yellow one… does she have one now? _

_A rose…_

_An idea popped into my head. Maybe..._

"_What are you doing?" the man pressed. I ignored him._

_I stuck my hand in my own pocket, and carefully took the object out. Just maybe..._

_I held out my blue rose in front of me. With a hint of hope, I stood up and began searching the piles of the things in the room._

"_Everything in this room has a purpose, you know!" _

_That's what the man had said._

* * *

The waving arms that appeared out of nowhere from the walls weren't bothersome. What _was _bothersome was that the door was locked.

"Another key?" Ib glared at the doorknob. "This is stupid." Ib marched back to the column and headed to the other hallway.

On the walls were four paintings. _Prologue. Chapter One. Chapter Two. Last Chapter._ Each depicted a stage of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Ib frowned. She had never seen these in the gallery before…

At the end of the hallway was another door. She opened it and came into the room. There was a hole in the middle of the floor, stretching from wall to wall. A broken painting frame was placed in the middle. On the floor by it, was a painting.

A spider eating the butterfly. Ib shuddered. She looked back at the broken painting. Then she remember the ant, saying something about its painting being used. _So I used it to cross, huh? Damn, I was evil. Poor ant. _

Ib took the spider and butterfly painting and placed it over the gap. Carefully, she stepped on it and quickly crossed. The painting tore, but it did not have a hole in the middle like the ant painting. Ib sighed and opened the door on this side of the room.

She entered it and observed what was in it, which was not much at all. It was empty, except for something on the ground. Ib walked forward, when something on the wall caught her eye. She turned to look at it.

It was a sign, like the little ones under paintings that state the title. Ib went over to read it.

_Epilogue._ Ib stared at it for a second, confused. Then she realized—it was the title of the spider and butterfly painting.

"That's a horrible story," Ib noted. She turned around and walked toward the object. She bent down and picked it up. It was a green key.

"What's the point of putting this in an empty room?" Just as she spoke, a _thunk_ resounded in the room. Ib jumped in surprise, and spun toward the source of a sound.

Something had dropped by the door. Ib hurried over.

A pair of glasses and a blue petal. Ib stood there for a second, staring at it.

Finally, she gave a little laugh. "Pfft! What the heck! That's so random, Ga…" She blinked. What was that? She knew she was saying a name, but when she tried to remember, nothing came up. Ib glared the glasses, as if to say, _It's all your fault!_

Then she bent down to pick up the glasses and petal. Hesitantly, Ib put the pair of glasses on. Her vision did not change. Then she held up the petal. _What am I supposed to do with this?_

She looked at it, and then—

"_IB!"_

Ib dropped the petal in shock. Her attention turned to the person at the door.

"Oh…" Ib blinked.

"I was so worried! Where-? Wait; forget it. Actually, _I_ was the one who got lost…"

"Ah… Well, I'm sorry anyways, Mary." Ib gave Mary a small grin. Ib searched for the petal; it had fluttered off somewhere.

"Where is it…?" Ib looked around. Then she spotted it by Mary's foot.

"What?" Mary looked at Ib, then the petal. Mary's eyes widened.

"Ib," she suddenly said coldly. "What's with the glasses?"

"Oh, um, it kinda fell on the floor after I picked up the key for the other door." Ib took it off and waved it. "Along with the blue petal," she added.

Mary's gaze locked onto the glasses, then to the petal again. "…Those are useless Ib. They do nothing. Give them to me." She glared at Ib.

Ib held the glasses tightly. "What? Why? I'm sure that these two can give us a clue on getting out of here or something."

Mary's eyes became dangerous; Ib instantly regretted it. She expected Mary to lash out at her again.

Suddenly her face became calm. "Okay, fine, I'll just tell you. Just earlier I ran into the same thing. A pair of glasses dropped along with a petal. I put it on, and looked at the petal, thinking the same thing, that it would help me. But then I saw a man… He was telling me that if I pulled the petals off, I would get out of this world, and that you had done the same." She hesitated. "So I tried, but then I ended up getting myself injured—see?" Mary rolled up her sleeves to her elbows, to show a gash from her elbow to her wrist. Ib gasped a little.

"O-oh, I see," Ib muttered. "Then, what about your wound? Are you alright?"

Mary snorted. "I could ask the same to you, Ib, How can _you_ move around with a injury like that too?" Mary gestured to Ib; Ib went over and gave the two items to her. "Anyways, I'm okay. The pain ceased after a while."

"That's good," Ib smiled. Just as she said that, the door slammed shut, and the lights shut off. Ib was immediately on guard. "What now?!"

_Thump._ The lights lit up again. And on the other side of the room, was a headless statue, wearing a red dress. It was just eerily standing there.

"Wha…."

The statue took a step forward.

Then it burst into a run.

* * *

**A/N: I progressed the story a bit! ;a; /cries in happiness/ **

**Well, it seems the duo are in a bit of a trouble here ~ *u* **

**I changed a few things on purpose, but some on accident, since I forgot the exact stuff ~**

**Also: _*_: don't worry, he's not thinking anything bad ~ =u=**


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6  
_Cats and Fish_

_._

_._

Ib gripped Mary's wrist (the other arm, with no injury) with one hand, and the door knob with the other. She twisted it. It didn't budge. Ib panicked. She pulled and tugged at it, but the door wouldn't open.

The statue was uncomfortably close.

"Dammit! Help!" Mary instantly understood, and the two, with desperate force, knocked the door down.

Without bothering to analyze what just happened, Ib ran to the painting. It looked like it was about to break; she quickly grabbed Mary and pulled her close.

"Wait, what are you—?"

_I hope this works…_

Ib ignored Mary, and ran over the painting as fast as she could; which was quite hard, since she was practically holding another person.

_Rip!_ The painting tore, and Ib stumbled. She cursed, since she nearly fell into the deep gap. Then she realized: Mary. She whipped around and pulled Mary up from the middle of the painting. Later Ib learned that Mary was right where the painting tore, and so she ended up hanging down from the frames, and the stature was about to claw Mary, possibly shred her into pieces. Mary landed on her feet and staggered. The stature let out a roar as it paced back and forth along the edge of the chasm, possibly wondering how the heck it was supposed to cross and cut up the humans.

Mary grabbed Ib's arm and pulled her away, and out the door. She slammed the door shut as they slowed their pace outside.

"What the hell?!" Ib snapped suddenly. Mary looked at her in surprise. "Now it's freak statues!" She stomped her feet and huffed, "This is creepy. Now I _seriously_ want to get out of here."

"…" Mary looked at Ib. "Okay…"

Stupid waving hands. They were starting to annoy Ib _a lot_. "What's next, meowing rooms?" She felt that was a really stupid thing to say—because, really, rooms that _meow?_ But deep inside, she somehow knew that she was not to be disappointed…

Ib inserted the green key into the door. _Click_. They entered the room. And there it was—a room with a cat face imprinted on it. _At least it doesn't meow, _Ib thought.

"Okay. So what are we supposed to do now? Right door?" Mary asked.

"Hm…" Ib looked around. Two doors, one on either side of them. "Left."

Mary looked at Ib curiously. "Why that?"

Ib thought she heard a dangerous edge to her voice. She decided to lie. "Because I want to? Well, if the left door's locked, then we'll go right, okay?"

Mary did not answer, so Ib just decided to take her silence as a yes. She reached for the knob, and prayed, _please let this be the one without the need of a key._

It opened. A little celebration cheer went off in Ib's head. "Let's see what this guy has to offer."

The room was large.

Very large. However, most of it was blank of the tan color of the floor; the place where Ib and Mary was standing had eight rectangles with what seemed like red curtains over them. The duo walked in. Just as they reached the first rectangle, the curtains popped open. Ib was not surprised. "You."

Inside the rectangle was a little black stick figure with red dots as eyes. On the side of it, there were words written in yellow paint.

"'Play hide and seek?'" Ib read. Suddenly, a rumble went through the entire room. Ib stumbled and the floor shook violently. A second later, it stopped. Ib and Mary looked around.

Now there were not eight curtains. There was a hundred. Ib stepped back. "It wants us to search through that many?" _Splat. _Ib turned and looked at the new fresh red paint.

_I have been moved to a different spot. Have fun finding me!_

"Split up." Ib looked up in surprise at Mary's short and sudden message. Mary pointed to the south of the room. "You search at that side. And I'll search up there." She gestured to the north of the room.

"Alright," Ib said reluctantly. "Good luck then." _If you don't die by the traps. _She wondered how she knew there would be traps and things that could hurt them. _Obvious? _Ib asked herself doubtfully. Forcing a quick smile, Ib turned around and hurried to the south end of the room.

.

.

.

Ib studied the rectangles on the floors. "How do I open these curtains?" she wondered aloud. She crouched down and traced the lines around the shape. She came to the corner on the right, and felt a dent; a loose square piece. Instinctively, she pressed it. The curtains dramatically drew open, only to reveal a white skull with two crossed bones painted over a black background. A metal tube stuck out in front of Ib's face. At first, Ib did not understand what that meant. Then a slight rumble shook the area she stood in.

_Of course_, Ib realized what the picture meant and quickly stepped back. A cloud of purple smoke blasted out from the tube, right up into the air, where Ib's face was.

"Poisonous gas?" Ib sighed.

"So this really is a survival game, huh?"

x

x

_Is it him? Is it really him?_

I asked that question a million times over in my head. I, Mary, a painting of Guertena's have come back. Purposely. But with Ib. An accident. Was that really an accident though? Why with her?

I paused in my searching. I already only have seven petals left. Got injured twice here. My cheek was throbbing; one window opened up to some lady painting taking a shower of something. I obviously didn't know there was such thing as that. And what kind of dirty joke is that? Sticking some naked lady painting behind these curtains. _A naked lady._

Sometimes I doubt that man of what he does in his spare time…

I sighed and looked at the grayish-sand colored ceiling. Was there a reason Ib was dragged here? Or was it just pure accident… Or, maybe, just somehow, Garry's alive.

But that's not possible.

I killed him. I tore all of his petals off. I swore it, I saw it, I remember it.

No matter what I thought, a little thought nagged at me constantly—_Garry's alive. Or could it be that "he" is truly awake…_

After all, where did the glasses and the blue petal come from?

I blinked. Glasses and blue petal. Of course. Maybe there may be answer…?

Hesitantly, I carefully removed the glasses and petal from my chest pocket. I put the glasses on. No difference. Then I held the petal in front of me. And then I saw them.

The memories of Garry.

The noticing of a little girl looking at him. The finding of the Fabricated World painting. Entering it. Going through the blue room. Freaking out.

Time skip. Getting attacked by the Lady in Blue. Fainting at the hallway and waking up to freak out again, and then realizing that the figure before him was the same curious and shy girl that had glanced at him for a second.

And then the part where the painting spat him. I realized that this memory must have been force in this petal, for details were blurry, the color was dim, and the sounds were soft. He jumped in fright and screamed like a little girl. Little Ib had giggled. Garry looked back at her, his ears red with embarrassment. Then he gave a sort of smile/frown at her.

The memories ended there. I blinked in surprise, and a little bit of jealousy. _They met for a second, and then instantly became friends._ Much faster than when I met them. _So Garry really is alive._ Removing the glasses, I realized that these glasses are the special kind that were made by Guertena; once a painting, but then given a spirit. These glasses allows one to read/view anything, hidden or in plain sight. I glanced at the petal. The blue had faded; it had turned white, and a quarter of it had become clear. "Why is this?" I whispered as I moved my finger over the petal. The clear part had become hard, like glass. I knew I know the answer, but it was not coming up right now.

I better continue opening these windows then…

x

x

"Dang it!" Ib gasped in pain. A spear had just shot out randomly and grazed her shoulder. Six petals now. Her stomach felt sick and she felt like she got punched there a few times, hard. Her hand was burned from a sudden fire blasting thing (one just like the poison one, except it gets faster each time she meets one; the fire one was the eleventh). And it hurt really badly. She can't concentrate her mind on something well, she sort of staggered as she walked, and could not focus her eyes on something for a while without defocusing randomly. She was holding her stomach. That was how bad the pain was. And it had lasted for a while now. Even her wound from the green room ached.

"What…the heck!" Ib coughed. She slumped onto the ground. "Ow…"

She had gone through forty-six windows already. The dangerous ones other than the kind that shoot out were just random and slow. The rest? Well, they made no sense.

Ib struggled to stand up, then went over to the next window. "You better be the right one." Ib glared at the curtain. "Or I'm gonna tear this place apart," she added helpfully, as a mock threat. _Well, I hope they don't cut my head off for saying that,_ she thought miserably.

"Here it goes!" Ib crouched down and pressed the button. The curtains opened. And there he was—the little annoying stick figure. A little trumpet popped up in the air and started playing music, like the kind once you win a game. Then it became paint and splashed onto the ground inside the rectangle.

_You found me! Go claim your prize!_

A _thunk_ resounded throughout the room.

"Mary!" Ib yelled at the figure over at the opposite side of the room. Then she doubled over and groaned in pain. "Damn it," Ib growled.

She stood up, still bent over with her unburnt hand clutching her stomach, and headed over to Mary.

.

.

.

Mary held up the item. It was the top half of blue fish. It seemed to be made out of wood.

"Fish? A wooden _fish?!_" Ib stared at the sculpture in complete irritation. "We did all of that and got injured for a piece of _fish?"_ She looked at where it had come from. "And we could have _reached for it!_" Ib stared into space.

"Um, Ib?" Mary waved her hand in front of Ib's face. She blinked and looked at Mary. "Fish."

Mary stepped back nervously. "Uh, what? A-are you okay…?"

"Okay? Okay?! How can I be okay? It's—we—_fish!_" Ib sputtered, emphasizing the word _fish_ intensely as if it explained everything thing. "I just—it's so—ugh! Just, _asdfghjkl;'sdfghfgg!"_

Mary raised her eyebrows. "…Okay…" Ib scowled at the stick figure. "I'm killing that thing."

Mary laughed, then realized Ib was (sort of) serious.

"Oi! No! Ib!" She grabbed Ib's arm and pulled her. "No! Nope! I'm killing that thing! That stupid thing! Freaking piece of—" Ib yelled curses at it.

"Leeeet's goooooooo, Ibbbb!" Mary said loudly, while thinking, _I never knew she could be so…weird._

"Nooooooo…!" Ib struggled to get free of Mary's grasp, but her other hand was burnt and her arm throbbed from pain from the hand, so she could not use it.

Mary rolled her eyes as she dragged Ib out of the room. They got out and Mary shut the door.

"Pghjsdhfj!" Ib yelled. "Damn it!" Mary let her go. Ib almost fell. She glared at the door. "Stupid stick figure."

"Okay, Ib, let's get your revenge later, after we get the hell out of here." Mary put a dangerous edge on her voice and crossed her arms.

"…Fine." Ib sighed.

Mary gave a short smile as she stuck the fish head into a mold in the wall.

"…But let me torture that thing."

"Ib, that's such… …a dumb idea. Paintings don't feel pain."

"…"

* * *

**A/N: I was partly planning okay hides in corner **

**So yeah. Ib wants that guy dead. Sort of long…~ I suck at suspense and all but:**

_**Who is "that man"…..? /mysterious music and three mysterious people dancing around campfire in background; one has red eyes, one has blue eyes, one has purple… wait...who are**__**these**** people?!**_

_**~Hope you enjoyed this one~**_


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: Enjoy ;u;~**

* * *

Chapter 7  
_Statues; More Fish and Cats_

_._

_._

"It fits perfectly," Mary mused as she stepped back to study the half of the fish.

"But's it's only half," Ib pointed out. She glanced at the door on the right. "I guess we have to go to that one now?"

Mary frowned. "But we're all dying over here! I only have six petals left. It hurts _a lot_."

"Seven." Ib sighed and waved her damaged arm in the air. "Pain and one useless hand. Well, we'd better get going. We'd have to find a vase and fix ourselves up." Mary looked at Ib, eyes suspicious. "How did you know that?"

Ib gave her a startled look. "What do you mean? There was a vase at the first room. All blue, you know?" _And what's with all the hateful looks? _Ib thought. _It feels like she's blaming this on me or something…_

"Oh yes. Sorry, I totally forgot," Mary said hurriedly. "Let's go now. We'd better find one—no, two, of those vase soon."

She stepped away from where she stood and went to open the door. _Click_.

.

.

.

"What the hell."

Statues. Statues everywhere.

"Creepy-ass statues, if you ask me." Ib shuddered as she stepped cautiously into the room. Headless full-body statues were obviously ladies, since…well, yeah. They reminded Ib of the kinds used in malls and such. They were okay. Plain and not colored, or wearing anything (like the first one they encountered that tried to kill them). Not scary. The only thing that was disturbing was the fact that they were just…_there._

But the head statues were a different matter. They were just plain freaky. Their facial features and hair all had this weird feeling that sent chills up Ib's spine. They were huge, too.

Those head statues stood in the middle of the room together. Ib counted about five. Headless statues were set by the walls of the small room. White cardboard boxes were scattered around the room. Some were stacked on each other.

"Ladies first." Ib heard Mary whisper. So she was scared. _Alright, this is nothing, _Ib thought, though she didn't know what she was comparing this to. However, she felt that this was…familiar. The same feeling she had when the lights went out in the gallery, the weird events that occurred there, the jumping into the water, and everything after that. Ib thought that that was probably just a feeling this place gives people just to scare the living daylights out of them even more.

"Alright, I'll go. I'll be the lady, and you be my over-protective and uber-'kawaii' man," Ib joked nervously. Patting Mary's shoulder, as if to say, "I'm off", Ib walked past the head statues. She glanced anxiously at the stuff around her. She went down the room. She was at the end. She looked at the head statues. Just staring their blank and still eyes into nowhere.

Then Ib noticed a box laying on the floor, diagonally from a statue. _Here it goes,_ Ib thought dreadfully. She walked over, to the box. Then she bent down.

The lights went off. Ib was so surprised that she let of a unexpected squeak and jumped upwards to standing position. She heard Mary whisper, "Oh god, oh god."

If Ib then was about to die of fright, then what happened next would make Ib die instantly—no millisecond wasted. But fortunately, Ib didn't find that too bad. Still, there was freaky things in that room.

Two red dots appeared in the dark, glowing, and lighting up what was around them faintly. _Eyes._ Ib recognized them. They came from the statue. _Oh no._

The head statue came forward, with a grating noise, as it scraped against the rough ground.

Once, twice, thrice. Once: the statue move away from its row of statues and onto the pathway by it, facing Ib. Twice: It went forward. Ib felt herself step backwards. Thrice: It went forward again.

Then the fourth—it moved forward, starting the loud scraping noise again when suddenly, a loud crashing noise exploded from where the statue was. The eyes' lights had gone out. The room's lights came up.

The first thing Ib noticed was that she was backed up against the wall, against the boxes. Ib blinked, and inhaled deeply, exhaling a shaky breath. She stared at the ground in front of her.

Scattered shards of the statue lay in front of her. Apparently that menacing guy had "tripped" over the box, falling down and breaking. There lay a piece of something blue in the middle of the pile.

Then looking up directly at Mary, Ib asked, "Are you okay?" Mary was standing against the door.

"Great monkey doodoo," Mary murmured. She was staring at the pile. "Oh, yes, I'm alright… It's just that…" Her voice trailed off as her gaze moved to Ib. "Six petals now, too?"

"Huh?" Ib glanced at the rose. "Oh…yeah. I wonder how… Let's get that thing in the pile." Ib took a step forward, then pain stabbed at her legs. Ib yelped a minor curse and looked down. Scratches on her legs. A lot of bleeding ones. And some shards had stabbed themselves into her leg. "…Oh."

"That's bad, Ib. I'll get over there and pick that thing up and drag us out first." Mary walked briskly over and crouched by the broken pieces of pottery. She cleared the pieces with her hand and picked up the object that did not fit with the group. Without taking even a glance at it, Mary stood up and offered her arm for Ib.

Ib gladly took it. Mary's arm was around Ib's back, supporting her. The two hurried out of the room as fast as possible.

Once they got out, Mary slammed the door hard. She set Ib down by the wall.

"Ow…" Ib groaned.

Mary sat by her and asked, half-jokingly, "No more revenge?"

"None," Ib replied wearily. "This is terrible. I feel sick and tired."

"Must be the effect of the loss of petals. Okay. I'll get the pieces out. If another rose petal starts to fall off, tell me. I'll stop," Mary instructed sternly.

As she began fix up Ib, Ib said, "This is stupid. Why'd we get stuck in here?"

"…. What do you mean?"

"I mean, like, there were so many people at the gallery. Why did we get dragged down to this hellish place, and not them?"

Mary said nothing. She stared intently at Ib's injuries. Then she shrugged and said, "Bad luck?"

Ib stiffened. _Bad luck. _That's what they had said. Her classmates. They had said that since she entered school, which was kindergarten. "Bad luck girl", they had called her. Every month, every day, every five minutes. They bullied her. It had gotten worse over time. People learned about her from those classmates. Then it spread even to the parents. _That_ spread through the parents' friends. And that possibly kept on going.

Junior high was terrible, since that when multiple schools gathered up their students and sent them to one. And there were some really mean people.

High school was the worst, since there had the most people in one place after all. More people means and increase of meaner people. An increase of menacing people meant more bullying. And that led Ib to depression. She could hardly stand it. She spent her free time in her house, not taking a step outside. She would spend a lot of days thinking of the past and getting all depressed. She would cry.

Or at least, that's all what Ib could get. She didn't remember much from those days.

And all that was because of her eyes. Those crimson red eyes that made people avoid her gaze if she were to look at them, the eyes that people would call "monster eyes" behind her back. She hated those eyes.

_Why are my eyes red?_ She had demanded to nobody as she sat in her bed, brooding over the events of that day. _Why did I have to inherit my mother's eyes?!_

_Bad luck, maybe?_

Ib blinked, and mumbled weakly, "Oh."

Mary paused in her work and looked up. "Oh, Ib. Oh gosh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. I just meant that…maybe it was just pure coincidence that it was us landed here. Not your eyes, Ib. Your eyes are pretty. Crimson red. I love red, and you know that!"

She smiled and patted Ib's head. Mary bent her head back down.

Sky blue eyes.

_But you love blue better. _

_That, I know._

.

.

.

"There, done!" Mary smiled and stood up. Ib glanced down. Her cuts were clean. Some still bled a little, but the rest had stopped. Ib looked down at her rose. Still six.

She stood up carefully. "Thank you, Mary."

Mary beamed. "You're welcome. I _did_ improve since last time." She caught Ib's expression. "Since you kept falling a lot on college campus," she added quickly.

Ib sighed at the memories of tripping at college. No one tripped her, of course, since they had moved to another state to attend college, so no one knew about Ib. The people there were more mature. One time, someone from her class had noticed Ib's eyes and yelled, "Freaky red eyes girl!" in hope to get everyone to hate Ib, but hardly anyone bothered to respond. After all, that guy was not as good as Ib in art, so it probably sounded more like an attempt to hurt her status as a great artist and move himself up the ranks than a hating comment.

Ib dusted off her skirt.

Mary picked up the object—a fish tail, and walked toward the north wall. Just as she was about to put it in, Ib held her hand and said, "No way. I'm taking the honor of sticking this thing in this time."

Mary shrugged and handed it over to Ib. "Why?"

"Well, I was angry last time and you put it in. This time, you were the one scared, so shouldn't I put it in?" Ib smirked.

"Hey!"

"What? It's totally fair, since you teased me yesterday!"

"Okay fine, just shove that thing in already."

"Sure, yeah."

Ib place the tail into the mold and stepped back.

A deep rumble went through the room. The room shook, and a path opened from the middle of the wall.

"MEOW MEOW MEOW!"

…_So it really does meow._


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8  
_Blank Canvas_

_._

_._

The cat's eyes, which were black circles among the white, became red slits.

The middle wall of where the fish was disappeared. One after another, a thick layer faded away, revealing a narrow hallway leading to another room of what seemed to be the same color—a deep tan colored floor and back walls.

Ib squeezed between the two walls and turned herself sideways to move quicker through the hallway. The injuries still hurt. Mary copied her sister and followed.

After a quick few seconds, Ib emerged from the path and quickly scanned the room.

There were three possible directions, two on either side, both of which the end could be seen; the left was not that long. One longer path from the middle of the room, straight across from where Ib and Mary stood.

The left part had two paintings. One was blank, and the other had a smiley face drawn with red. A red tongue was waving from side to side rapidly. Ib pointed to there and walked over, Mary following right behind. Just as Ib thought that the smiley face painting was quite strange, it spat at her. Literally. She was just in front of the painting when something flew from the painting and landed right in front of Ib. She just barely dodged it, especially with the dizziness and pain.

"Wha…" Ib gave a surprised yelp. She looked down. "Spit?" she said incredulously. "Bet it is explosive." Ib went around the it and went to look at the white painting. Mary casually stepped over it and walked over.

"Nine," Ib read. She looked at Mary. "It's a number. Like, not written in letters, but in numerals. It's really hard to see," she added as Mary stared intently at the blank painting.

"Nine," Ib muttered under her breath as she headed toward the middle hall. "Four and eighteen. One-sixty-six…?"

x

x

I gazed at the painting intently. Even though I've become a human, I still knew. I could tell. Much less, but still.

_There was no number._

Ever since I entered this place with Ib, I knew that some things had changed. Like the numbers in this room. So how did she know…?

And just when I turned to ask Ib that question, I heard her say, ever so quietly: "Nine, four, and eighteen."

I froze. _How did she know?_ To top it off, she added "One-sixty-six" to her mumble. Did she remember?

I felt myself tremble. In shock? Or fear? Fear that she might remember who I really am, and hate me? I don't know, but I saw her face become a frown as I followed her into the middle hall. She bent down to pick up a piece of paper sitting at the corner, and quickly put it back down.

"Stay in the middle," she warned me. I did as she told me. I knew what was going to happen. So I prepared myself.

Just as we were going to get out of the hall, a back hand from the right burst from the wall, and clawed at us. I jumped and let out a slight gasp. Ib didn't budge. _Possibly she was used to it from thee green room? _I wondered to myself. I put my expression back to my normal one—a calm, and blank look, since Ib wasn't looking anyways. I silently thanked myself for practicing such things when I was stuck here, and for taking drama classes. I now can easily fake fright and surprise, happiness and shock, and other emotions to look like I have never been here before.

Once I finally immersed myself in the attempts to reassure myself that she had remembered nothing (or at least nothing important), Ib interrupted my thoughts. "Dolls last."

Genuinely startled this time, I glanced at another hall to the right. Dolls hung from the ceiling, dangling down limply, high and low.

Ib gestured to the door on the left. "Let's go." Her voice was tired, and expressed some annoyance and impatience. Without hesitating, she opened the door, and entered the room. I followed her.

x

x

"More paintings…," Ib sighed tiredly as she entered the room. Six of them were nailed to the wall, three on each side. All were blank.

Another door stood in the middle of the paintings. Ib moved quickly to each and looking at the labels for any information. Within a minute, she stood up at the last painting.

"Nothing." Ib shrugged, then continued, "Just the same message. 'Enter.'" She looked Mary in the eye, nervously. "Should we enter?"

Mary responded, "Er…Sure. Well, why not anyways? _You _seem nervous this time."

Ib sighed. "It sounds really creepy okay. Just the way they simple put that word on all of them. At the same time, I'm expecting something will come up and cut us up." She shifted in her position nervously. Then she peeked at the door again.

"Dolls or mysterious door," Mary pressed slightly. Ib blinked in surprise. Now Mary was trying to get her to do something.

Ib hesitated. _Which one? _Then she shook her head, reminding herself: Get out of here. She was sure that it was one option or another. "Door," she decided.

So she stepped forward, and turned the knob. Then she paused. _Are you sure?_ That little question formed in her head. She had no idea why she was so anxious now. Before, she was okay. A little scared in the beginning, but she felt that she had gotten used to everything, since this place was certainly not the real world. This place was a fake.

She knew that.

But what about her petals? Six left, and she felt worse by the minute. Possibly because she still moved around even with such wounds. Mary, too. Plus, she wasn't all too sure what would happen if she lost her petals. She wasn't informed anything about this place, nor did Mary seem to know anything. But something inside her was bugging her. She _knew_ that she would die if she lost all her petals, and Mary… Well, something felt a little strange that Ib couldn't put together.

_Stop it_, she told herself. _Get moving. This is nothing compared to…_ Her thoughts trailed off again, but she pushed the door open. She peeked inside. Nothing. Just pure white. There seemed to be light, but the room was so weird that Ib couldn't tell. It just somehow distorted some of her senses. She felt dizzier than before. She tried to force it away. And then she stepped into the room. There was a floor. But corners? Shadows?

And that was when Ib realized what was so weird and unnerving about this room. There was no sense of dimension, perspective, reality, or whatever it is called. No shadows or no "lines" that gave someone an instant understanding of the room. It was something that is impossible [[I'm sure]] in reality. Still, she sensed walls around her. It was extremely disturbing.

She turned around to leave. However, instead of a door, a painting stood in her way. She quickly moved back in sudden fright. It was a painting of a black figure wearing a shirt of a single hue. She spun around, only to see five others just like the first around her. Except they all wore different colored shirts.

_Am I hallucinating?_ She questioned herself, but she was too distracted to focus on what she was thinking.

x

x

I stared at Ib. She had turned the knob, but didn't open it for a while. She just stood there, staring at the door.

Okay, I was seriously not expecting that. I did not feel a change like _that_. I poked her and pushed her, but she didn't budge.

"Ib?" I questioned. She didn't respond. I looked at the paintings. Blank, pure white. The figures had gone somewhere. This world did change. But how? Could Garry have gone to _there_? Just somehow found that place? It made no sense. Plus, the other person shouldn't be…

I felt myself pale. "No." I said aloud. "Impossible. Stupid. I'm just too scared, not considering other possibilities." But I still shook with certain fear in the memory of that _man_.

* * *

**A/N: It seemed that the formatting was incorrect, so I updated all of them so it would be easier to read. =3=''**


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9  
_Truth and Lies_

.

.

The paintings surrounding Ib suddenly spoke.

The voice was quiet and seemed to be of a man's but she wasn't so sure. It sounded a bit strange from the paintings.

"Hello," they said. "Did I scare you? I'm quite sorry. How are you today?" The voice paused. Ib frowned. Was she supposed to respond? Deciding that maybe it would be polite to respond (but to a painting?), she opened her mouth to reply, but then, they spoke again, cutting her off. "Oh, that's good. How? Well, at least you aren't quiet and unmoving as the other days." Pause. "I know you're not feeling all happy and dandy and all, but you seem sort of relieved. Or shocked. I can't tell." Pause. "Well, it's not my fault you've been putting on such a blank expression on whenever I visit! I'm sorry, but it seems you're the unfriendly one here." There was a sigh. The conversation continued. No names mentioned, just "you" and "I", etc.

Okay. So apparently these paintings aren't talking to her. But certainly not one another. So she decided to speak up.

"H-hello…? Anyone?" she managed out; it was hard to say it confidently since there was no actual person there.

The conversation stopped. Ib felt nervous and her face felt hot. She felt so stupid. She tried again. This time, however, aiming at the paintings. Just because.

"Uh…paintings?" No answer. "Um…weren't you paintings talking to someone?" She asked louder. The figures did not move.

Silence. "Hello?" Ib pressed the question again. Still no answer. Therefore Ib decided to just fake annoyance. "Seriously! What the hell, can't you person or painting, whichever, just f-(censored! =3= ~)-ing answer?" She almost yelled it. And good thing she did give a falsely angered response, because the voice responded.

"Oh no. _No, no, no, no, no! NO!_ No cursing! Bad-mouth children these days! Hush and shush! Such disrespectful language! Don't say such things! Bad! What do parents these days teach them?! Don't they tell them what's good and bad?" the voice cried.

"Shut up," Ib growled, this time genuinely annoyed. "You're the one who didn't answer. Isn't that disrespectful?"

"Oh, you little brat. I welcome you back, and all you do is say rude things. You should be happy!" the voice snapped.

Ib blinked. "Welcome me back? What's that's supposed to mean? And if you're gonna talk to me, at least tell me why there are paintings here floating around! And who were you talking to? Who are _you?_"

"Who am I? How could you not know? I-!" The voice fell silent. Then: "Paintings? Where _are_ you?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Ib scowled. The voice said, "Hmm…paintings…floating paintings, eh? Hm. Ah! I see! I interrupted your game! I'm very sorry, I did not realize that you managed to get here so fast. How did you do it? If you answer the question, then I might transfer you out! Simple!"

Ib hesitated. Then she replied, cautiously, "Mary." Somehow, she knew that the name was enough to answer the question.

There was a passing silence.

"Oh? That _is _true. Honesty, eh? That's a good trait! Very good!" There was a few seconds delay of clapping. "However, you could have lied to me. I did not know that she was actually with you. I thought that she was traveling away from you, or found a different path to me. Too bad though, I can't let you go. She and I… well, we're not good friends. And since you traveled with her, I can't let you live either. So goodbye, and hopefully you won't die painfully!" There was laughter.

"What? Hey!" Ib yelled in protest and confusion. He was not making any sense. "What do you mean?!" she shouted, but the laughter was already fading.

And then the paintings began to move.

In unison, each with a different voice, they spoke: "Welcome to the Liar's Room!"

Ib glared at the one wearing red. "What?"

It ignored her, but instead of all the figures, it shouted aloud by itself: "Answer the following questions we're going to ask you! Some are true and false, others are just questions that require simple answers!"

Ib was about to yell back "no way", when the brown one suddenly piped up, "No need to be specific! We know, we know. It's alright." Its voice had some kind of gentleness to it. Or was it sympathy?

But the other ones did not agree with being nice to Ib. They screamed, "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! LIES!" Their arms waved around in anger. Some pounded on their frames, others waving their fists.

The brown one flinched, and mumbled, "I am sorry."

The others quieted down. The red one shook his head. Ib decided to call the brown guy "Brownie". Partly because he was wearing brown, and because she was hungry. (She considered calling him Poopy, but that was kind of rude.)

"Alright," announced the one in yellow. "First question: What's your favorite color?"

"…Red," Ib replied, surprised that they were asking easy questions. _It's going to get harder isn't it?_

"Favorite flower?"

"Rose…"

"Kindergarten teacher?"

"Why…? …Ms. Pen."

The questions continued. It went from past to present. They did not ask any private questions, like her crush or anything. Just shareable information.

Then, thirty-four questions later, the red one, who seemed to be the leader, hollered, "Continue! No break time."

"Aw!" the others cheered in unison. Brownie muttered, "No." No one heard him other than Ib.

The paintings began to chatter and giggle and scream once in a while. Brownie was obviously excluded. _Why?_ Ib wondered. _And why don't they make sense? Whatever they say doesn't match with their emotions._

Ib felt sorry for Brownie. So she decided to try and tell others. She coughed loudly. She was ignored. She tried again, still failing.

"Hey!" Ib snapped, her voice loud. The paintings silenced and turned to her. A chill went up her spine. Even though they lacked facial features, she could feel them staring at her. She forced down the creepiness she was getting, and stared straight at the red one. "Why don't you talk to the brown one?" she demanded.

Brownie whimpered and whispered, "Stop. Please stop." Ib turned to look at him. "But they're ignoring you!" Brownie shook his head. "No—"

"Why? Why? WHY?!" the red one suddenly screamed. "Liar! He's—he's…!"

"You!" the one in green wailed. "Who is she?"

"Who?"

"Mary! Who is she to you? _Who is she?!_" the rest of them, still excluding Brownie, screamed.

"What?" Ib stared at a random painting. "Why are you asking questions about her now?"

"Shut up!" the red one's voice burst out. "Answer the question! We're the ones asking questions here!" Suddenly, the red one climbed partly out. It's head and upper body stuck out of the painting, leaning towards Ib. One of its fists reached out and tried to grab her.

Ib staggered back. "She's my sister. Mary's my sister!"

"You…"

A voice that Ib had never heard of suddenly appeared. It was soft and sounded shocked. That was all she could get through her mind before the main five paintings suddenly burst from their frames.

"Liar! _Liar! LIAR!"_ They screamed again in unison. Suddenly, a stick appeared in each hand of each figure, lit with a blazing and hot fire.

"No!" cried Brownie, his soft voice hardly getting over the louder of the five. He too was holding two torches.

"'Lies?' How! She's my sister, dammit!" Ib yelped as a torch flew past her, passing uncomfortably close.

"Shut up! You're lying! Liar! We'll burn you! Burn you into aaasheesss!" The last word was given a mocking melody to it. They five began to laugh. High-pitched shrieks of mad laughter filled the room as they advanced toward Ib. _Damn, how am I supposed to get out of this one?_

They were circling her, quickly closing in. The fires grew slightly larger in size and turned from red and yellow to a flickering and amazing hue of blue, then to blinding white.

They were only twenty feet away.

Among the cries of "Liar", Brownie shouted, "Truth! She speaks the truth! It's her memories!"

_Memories?_

Ib didn't bother to think about it. She didn't want to die here. In this stupid, haunted world? No way.

"Mary!" Ib screamed in desperation.

_What's wrong with my memories?_

Suddenly, in response, a door appeared right in front of Ib.

_Was I here before?_

The sight of the door boosted Ib's spirits. She immediately grabbed the door knob. She didn't really care at this point where this lead to. It didn't matter if the place she went to had a bunch of things a ten times freakier than what was here now. She just didn't want to die a burning, painful death.

Unfortunately, the door also encouraged the figures, too. They shouted excitedly and in anger at Ib. Their speed changed from a taunting, threatening and slow walk to a faster-paced scurry.

Their furious chant of "Liar" became rapid and connected.

Ib twisted the door knob hard and shove the door open.

_This seems so familiar._

The paintings were around ten feet away.

Ib stepped through the door and saw Mary. She grabbed Ib's hand and pulled her through.

The figures were very close to the door, screaming bloody murder. Panicked, Ib slammed the door shut.

The shouts suddenly quieted once the door was closed. Every one of them was shut in the white room.

Ib gasped and shuddered. She was facing the door, hand still on the knob.

"Ugh," Ib muttered and slumped down, back facing the door.

"Are you okay Ib?" Mary's voice came from above.

"Sure," Ib replied tiredly. "Dang. That was _not_ cool."

"What was?"

"…Huh?" Ib looked up. Mary was looking at her a bit weirdly.

"Oh. You didn't see them even though they were screaming for my death right at the door?"

Mary's expression became concerned. "Are you okay Ib? There was no one at the door. You never even opened it."

Ib blinked. "What?! But I went in there! There were these six paintings asking questions! And then I answered a question wrong…" Ib suddenly remembered. They were yelling at, calling her liar when she replied that Mary was her sister. That made no sense to her, since the other answers were also true. "I answered a question wrong and then they got mad and then tried to burn me with flames."

Mary did not reply. Her gaze had been averted to the door on the other side. After a few seconds, she said, "Alright. Explain it me later. This is already too confusing."

Ib looked at her sister curiously. "…Okay."

Just then, there were six loud bangs coming from the walls, three from each side.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Ib jumped up, bewildered at the sudden noises. She scooted away from the door leading to the white room to the door that led to this room. Then she saw that the white paintings now had color. At first she was confused—the black faceless figures from the white room were now each in a painting frame. They were still and unmoving, in various positions. One had its arms crossed, and the rest had theirs waving all over. The torches were nowhere in sight. Ib even noticed that the labels under the artworks changed.

"Whoa, um, Ib? Are these guys the ones you saw behind the door?" Mary asked. Ib stared at Brownie. Both his arms were up, which could've either meant "hurray" or "I surrender". The red guy had one arm raised above his head (a little bent), and the other across its chest.

"…Yes," Ib finally replied. "They had torches, and they were scary. The room I was in was white like the paintings…before…" Then an idea struck her. "Mary, open the door."

"Er, okay," Mary mumbled, and then stepped back. She opened the door wide open.

And inside was…

A tiled room with a strange full-body statue. Everything was a soft, light gray color, close to white. The walls and ceiling were the same color as the background of the paintings—a dark color.

It certainly was not a pure white room with no shadows.

Ib realized what had happened then.

**A/N: (Okay, I'll need to somehow explain the problem =n='' If I can't then I'll change the plot ;n; Just so you know: to be honest, I'm not exactly plotting everything clearly, and even if I do, I'll usually end up changing it as I write…. n'')**

**Uhh… =~='' I hope you enjoyed it =u=~**


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10  
_Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire_

.

.

Well, Ib couldn't say she understood all of it. The concept was hard to grasp, especially since she was hurrying and just escaped from a life-and-death situation. But pretty much what Ib could figure out with that intelligent mind of hers in a quick while, was that it seemed that the frames of the paintings act as windows to the room behind them. However, even if one were to go to the other side to look for them, the "windows" would not be there. _So pretty much,_ Ib thought, _it's one of those magical things that happen in this world; it can be explained but not so specifically that there will be endless questions._ But why did the paintings change color? Because the mini world (it was connected to the main one that the two women are in) of the six guys came and temporarily replaced the actual one room. Pretty much, they had switched from the current dimension to their own small one, maybe?

Another question—why did Ib herself not enter the world physically? (That's what seemed to happen, since Mary was quite puzzled.) Possibly it was more like a mental transfer of the person who tried to enter their world, and a form was given to the person, for the little world could not sustain an existence that was originally not supposed to be there. But any physical changes there would also occur to the real body. And the scene of Mary pulling Ib through the door must've been an illusion of some kind, but she still escaped the clutches of the angry mob in reality.

Ib tapped her foot, muttering, "I think I get it now." She looked up at Mary and just was about to tell her to read the panels underneath each painting, when the figures moved again.

"LIAR!" the red one snarled instantly.

Mary backed away from the door.

"Liar!" chanted the others. But just as before, Brownie hollered, "Truth! Truth!"

The five then turned to face Brownie. Torches reappeared in their hands.

"Liar," the one next to Brownie whispered.

Ib watched Brownie flinch and pale, turning into a shade of gray, and seem to look right at Ib. She understood the message the poor brown guy was giving her. She replied with a questioning and sad look on her face.

_On a count of five, then, _Ib thought.

_Five._

"Two liars," the red one said, "and one damned bastard—a liar _and_ a trickster." (_Four._) A short silence followed up, with everyone still, wondering what would happen next. As for Ib, she was wondering who the "damned bastard" was. (On Mary's part, she did not respond.)

_Three._

_Two, _Ib counted.

Then the leader screamed, "Die!"

"Four! The number is four!" Brownie cried out desperately.

_One._

The painting in red whipped around, throwing its torch at him, ablaze in red hot flames, which flew from within the frames, just as the background became white again. Brownie flinched in sudden fright and hesitation, only to be smacked by the torch, the side where the fire raged. The flames found him and took hold, quickly spreading on the figure in brown. He screamed a horrible scream. Ib took a step back, in slight shock, slowly, then flung the door wide open, calling out to Mary. The blond-haired sister followed wordlessly out and slammed the door shut securely, just as a torch sailed through the air. A thud and the deep crackle of fire could be heard along with Brownie's saddening screams of pain.

* * *

**A/N: Aha. Super short chapter.**


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N: Just so you all know, I just split this from the tenth chapter, because I felt that Ch10's title wouldn't match with the rest of this. But not that I really knew what to name this chapter anyway OTL**

**Anyways, enjoy~**

* * *

Chapter 11  
_Pines and Apples_

_._

_._

"Hurry. The door might burn down soon, and possibly the rest of this room," Mary said flatly to Ib, for she was staring at the door, obviously tempted to open the door, dash in, and save the brown guy. Ib hesitated before she answered. She said slowly, "Alright."

Ib touched the door, which were already warmed by the flames, gently, as if the say "I'm sorry," and then walked to the hanging dolls. She maneuvered through the forest of them, trying to not touch any. Then she found the one doll she was looking for: it was hanging low and in the middle of them all. She tugged on its rope. Automatically, another doll dropped down.

Using her foot, Ib poked it, and turned it over to its back. "Eighteen."

She went up to the door at the end of the hall, and opened it using the password of 166. She entered the small room. Fake trees lined up side by side neatly and close, the wooden leaves painted green touched, although the trunks were apart many feet. One tree similar to the others stood in the middle, with a shiny yellow-and-brown pineapple hanging down from one of the branches. Ib went up to it to pluck it off, but even when standing tip-toe to reach it, she could not; her fingers and arm straining as she stretched, and her neck quickly tired from looking upwards; only her hand just barely brushed the bottom of the fruit, swaying the thing slightly.

"Let me help," Mary offered, her voice coming from the door. She walked over. As she came right next to her sister, Ib realized that Mary was taller than her by a few inches, perhaps even three; Ib was not very sure.

Mary easily stood on her toes and grabbed the pineapple off the branch.

Ib asked, "Hey, do pineapples actually grow on trees?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Wow. What a joke. Whoever put that there is stupid."

"Here," Mary said. Ib reached out for it and opened her mouth to say thank you, when Mary asked, "Why did you want to save him?"

"Huh?" Ib moved her gaze from the pineapple to Mary. "Oh, Brownie? Because, well, he helped me. Sort of. I can't say it was much help, but he stood up for me, even though the other hated him for doing that. Also, they burned him," Ib added to put in more reasoning.

"Ib, that's stupid. Paintings don't have feelings. Even if they do, they're all fake. They're not real beings, they don't breathe, they don't eat, they don't have personalities. They're just there to scare visitors, or make them get attached to a painting, or whatever—all to stop people who are in this world to stay forever! They just ruin people's lives and take them away forever!" Mary snapped bitterly.

Then she covered her mouth. An obvious big "oops", but of what, Ib wasn't so sure, but she felt she had caught onto something; so she stared Mary, a bit surprised by the slight outburst, and then slowly, carefully, she said, "You sound like…you are positive of all this. Like you know that is the purpose of those paintings. You…could you have…?"

_Could you have been here before?_

x

x

My short temper went off a little when I realized that Ib wanted to save Brownie or whatever the food. And then I felt myself spill out the words, saying things with no "probably" or "maybe".

I am such an idiot. I totally forgot that Ib was pretty smart (though once in a while she just completely becomes a little more than an idiot).

What surprised me, actually, was that she came up with such an idea, usually quite a strange one, since people would normally not think of such things.

Even better, I made it more obvious by clasping my hand to my mouth. _OOPS._

But I still tried to hide it. Which probably made it worse.

"Uh, no, I'm not sure of this. I mean, yeah. It's sorta obvious right? Paintings having personalities and drawing in people to stay in this world? Trapping the person forever and putting that person in an illusion for the rest of their lives until they start to rot alive and starving and getting all gross? It could be real, they could do such a thing for movies, you know? Like the one we saw last month…you know! The really weird one…yeah? Wasn't it about the life of a cow or something? Eating hamburgers on the fields and shitting daily? Right?"

Okay. What the fuck. Really stupid. I never felt so nervous in my life, but then again, I _am_ trying to keep my identity a secret from Ib, aren't I, so I can live in peace and happiness? But this was truly the most random thing I have ever said my life. I even felt so nervous that my stomach was in turmoil, and it was my first time feeling such a strange feeling, so I couldn't keep it down. Well, plus, it felt so weird.

And Ib just stared at me. "What."

"We've never seen a movie last month, and especially _not a movie about cows taking dumps and eating hamburgers._"

"Um, actually, shouldn't it be eating hamburgers and _then_ taking a break? Because they'll be hungry after they take a dump," I said, and just mentally slapped my face, as I half-unconsciously continued, "and they won't have an appetite after seeing their stuff with—."

Ib covered her ears and yelled, "Nope! Shut it, geez, no need to take it that far."

I covered my own mouth again. "Sorry, I mean, like—Okay. Forget it. I lost my appetite. Here's the pineapple."

Ib took it, and said, "It's not like you can eat wood, you now. Now let's go, you disturbing grandma."

I grinned a little at her back as we headed out. I avoided it! Now hopefully she won't remember the question forever. Or any worse question that may come to the smart mind of hers that includes anything about my time here.

X

X

Another arm popped out from the hallway wall, and Ib was hardly aware of it, for the sparks of pain was distracting her. She hoped to find one of those magical pots or whatever soon—that is, if there were any more. She headed over to the beginning of the room, where they had started out, and turned left (from their perspective) to the other long hall that seemed to have no doors.

Indeed, there were no doors, but the first thing Ib noticed, for that was the only thing in the hall, was a mouth, lips red and shiny like actual lipstick was used on this large mouth, the details of the wrinkles and texture seemed to be real, and the weird thing? It looked alive, like it was just a picture of a person's lips stuck onto the wall. Except it stuck outwards, like the wall had its own human mouth.

Which was somewhat true, as Ib quickly figured. She came up to it, tossing the apple in the air and catching it with one hand. She stood in front of it, waiting, as if she was expecting a response.

She got one. The lips yawned a long one, then sighed. "I'm not hungry anymore. One apple was enough, dear. It takes quite a while for me digest, you know? Even a crumb would take a week or more."

"We're here," Ib said, her words official sounding, and not taking the words of the lips into mind, "to get across and continue with this…long and tiring trek. It's very important; we are all hurt and tired. We heard that the end will come soon, once we cross."

"Don't you need food then, if it's such a tiring journey? Keep that pineapple. I'm not hungry, and I don't want to get anyone across," the lips said tiredly.

Ib bit her lip. If it won't open its mouth, then there's certainly no way the two can get across and find the exit of this world.

Then Mary stepped up. "What a lie. You _will_ eat the damn pineapple and get us across."

The lips bared its white, sharp teeth in menace and refusal. "No!" the lips snarled. "I will not accept such a disgusting food. It is not an apple anyways! I love and can only eat apples. That is the only ability I was given." At that comment, Mary gave Ib a look that said "See?"

"Okay, look," Ib intercepted, a plan forming quickly in her head. "This is an apple. Pineapple is another name for the apple—the real name. The name apple is actually just a shortened version of it, since people are too lazy to call it the full name." Now she just hoped that it can't see.

"Really?" It sounded doubtful yet hopeful at the same time. "Then why didn't people say that when they met me many years ago? All they said was 'apple'."

"Really. And as for that, we're time travelers. We came from the past, of which when people still said 'pineapple' instead of 'apple'. It's been centuries—possibly even an eon—since people called it pineapple. You should be glad! You just learned something new, and with that knowledge, you can renew the tradition of calling it pineapples. People will realize that you would be correct, and give you apples for eternity!"

"Hm… That sounds too good to be true. Apples for eternity… Huh, alright, I guess. If you lie, I will immediately close my mouth on you people and shred you into pieces," the lips said merrily. It licked its lips.

Great. Make one mistake and they die. Too bad, the mistake was already made.

"Alright," Ib said aloud, as confident as possible. She tossed in the pineapple into its mouth. _I hope it doesn't have taste buds._ The mouth chewed thoughtfully. After a while, it swallowed noisily and became a smile, saying, "Indeed! It is an apple. You may proceed." It opened it mouth wide, revealing what seemed to be endless darkness inside.

Ew.

Ib hesitated, debating in her head the options, since sometimes she could be very considerate of choices and possibilities of the outcomes. However, once in a while, she would overthink things and freak out and back down. Like that one time in her junior high—she had considered telling the teachers that people were being assholes, and the counselor about more deep stuff, but she worried that the other kids would torture her more and everything would fall deeper into the crevasse of the cold, bitter world, in which she was already on the verge of slipping in. So after considering every possibility, likely or extremely unlikely, she completely lost hope to try to fix her problem and tried to hide herself away for the rest of the school years.

So questions popped up in her head, but this time she kept her choices low down to these: What if the lips are actually lying, and just wants to chomp down on them? But if it's telling the truth? She weighed the choices, still pretty worried.

So gesturing to Mary to come over, Ib whispered in her ear the simple idea of how to get across: Jump through, and hope the lips aren't super accurate at timing.

Mary frowned, quite doubtful of the idea, but she nodded anyways. They decided to be side by side, so if one makes it across, the other one won't be trapped, stuck at the room the two are currently in.

The mouth was wide enough for about three people with space in between each person, so Mary and Ib could certainly fit through at once.

They backed to the wall behind them, across the lips, and Ib held up her fingers to count down instead of saying it out loud, for if the mouth _really_ wants to kill them for giving it the pineapple (though, that is, if it could figure out the difference), then it could probably figure out what they were up to and just shut its mouth altogether.

"Are you going through or not?" The lips growled, irritated by the long wait, although it actually wasn't that long, but holding your mouth really wide open must tire quickly.

_Three. Two. One. _Fingers went down and the sisters, did a quick and short sprint and leaped into the darkness within the mouth.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12  
_Lady In Blue_

_._

_._

Yeah, the lips really was lying.

Right as the she jumped in, the thing noticed in a flash and chomped down hard, but Ib was fortunate (that is, if she cares) to not get the ends of her hair bitten off. After all, her hair was pretty long. Darkness surrounded the young woman.

_How ironic, _Ib thought, amused for no reason really, _that we came from the Liar's Room. Liar tries to kill truth teller, then liar tries to kill liar._

The darkness dissipated and a warm light spread across her vision. She landed into a new room of violet walls and floor; the ceiling, too, was the same purple-blue. The carpeted floor had diamond-shaped outlines, patterning across the entire room, of colors of blue and green. The room temperature had gotten noticeably warmer, which Ib thanked for, since the temperatures in the rooms before were a bit too cool. She rubbed her arm thoughtfully, the other hand still by her side hanging useless, and looked around the room.

She (along with Mary of course) had arrived on the left side of the room, where a towering red statue stood; its glassy material reflecting light from every curve and bend. On the right was a similar statue, only blue this time. Focusing on the walls on the other side of this large room, Ib could see paintings—but of what exactly, she could not see.

"Weird," Ib took note of the statues' strange design. It looked like layers of paint was poured over them, instantly hardening before it passed the previous one.

She went passed them without caring for them another second, and went to a darker-colored blue door in the middle of the wall, testing the handle. It was locked. _Thought so,_ Ib thought. _Looks like my instincts _are_ very good._

She looked around the room again. Now where would someone hide a key….

Ib's instincts said: Right! So she headed to the right, and saw that one of the paintings depicted a lady in red. The lady wore a red dress, had red eyes, and had straight red hair flowing down past her shoulders.

She was beautiful.

Ib remembered her from the gallery on the second floor. An artwork of Guertena's. Then she realized that those statues were also from the art gallery…along with some others…. _This gallery contains Guertena's works. Why?_ Ib pondered, but quickly receded from the thoughts inside her head and took a step forward to the _Lady in Red_. Then she felt something hard under her foot. Curious, she bent down and picked it up.

It was a key. However, it was red this time. The keys that Ib had picked up all matched the colors of the rooms, so this was a little odd. But why not just test it anyways?

Ib went over to the door again, and inserted the key into the keyhole. It didn't fit. Wrong key, then.

"Maybe there's another one?" Mary asked over Ib's shoulder. Ib had forgotten about Mary, but she did not jump or scream in surprise. She merely looked back at Mary and said, "Oh yeah, maybe."

Ib decided to go left this time to look for the key. On the wall, had a painting just like the _Lady in Red_, except she was all blue.

And there was the purple key on the ground, the same area where the red one was. Ib bent down to pick it up. It was strangely warm, even though it was of metal. Then, however, before Ib could wonder about that anymore, a shrill screech arose from something in front of Ib. A crash came right after. Ib looked up, startled, only to see a blue lady, half out of the painting, crawling rapidly towards Ib.

"Whoa!" Ib yelped, and jerked away, as it launched itself at the place where Ib just was. "Mary."

The sister, standing by the door, was studying the patterns on the floor (_What the hell, pay attention, dammit,_ Ib had thought earlier), switched her attention to Ib, who had already ran up to her. Mary opened her mouth, looking as if she wanted to say something, but another growl made her turn around, then snatched the key from Ib's hands, and shoved it into the keyhole. Within a second, Ib and Mary were already behind it, door shut, and shuddering as the thing scratched mercilessly at the door.

The screeches could still be heard, although muffled under the continuous scratching of the door.

"Ha!" a voice growled from behind the door. Ib looked at the door. _Did it just talk?_

"It's suicidal! You'll die," the voice cried, "All you have is an amnesiac girl. You'll never escape again, after that. He'll get you! This time for sure."

Huh? Amnesiac girl?

Ib glanced at Mary, who looked like she was going to open the door and start stabbing whoever was speaking behind the door.

X

X

So he's alive? But there was no way he could wake up that fast. It's only been five months since he started sending me the damned "presents". Unless that blue lady was talking about Garry? But that made no sense, even if that purple-haired guy is alive. "All you have is an amnesiac girl" she just said. Garry wouldn't bother us, and certainly not Ib.

Well, what a shitty puzzle I threw myself into.

"Let's go Ib," I said aloud. No need to deal with that blue lady.

However, though, Ib just kept looking back and forth from the door to me. Obviously she's getting suspicious. Damn, if only the ladies and paintings in this place could keep their mouths shut, like they're supposed to.

Blabbermouths. Ugh.

X

X

Ib hesitated when Mary told her to go. She was starting to get suspicious.

First of all, memories. The ant came around and asked why she didn't remember it. Then Brownie said that her memories were wrong. Next came along the voice from behind the door (probably the _Lady in Blue_), saying that she was an amnesiac. At first, Ib thought the amnesiac was Mary, but after putting the past messages together, she realized that the amnesiac lady was her.

Second was Mary. Red guy was saying that she was a trickster and a liar (though he called Ib a liar too). But a trickster? Plus now there's the _Lady in Blue,_ who seemed to be talking to Mary. "You'll never escape again." A big clue right there. ("AGAIN" COUGHCOUGHCOUGH) And the way Mary had spoken in the apple/pineapple tree room; she seriously sounded like she was positive of all the stuff. The way she started rambling after that was too weird anyways.

Then she remembered what the little ant had said in the green room:

…_I advise you to not ask anything that would provoke suspicion within that girl. _

Asking about memories, maybe?

_And do not mention this conversation. _

Sure.

_Lie if you must. _

He'd be one hell of a father. His wife would disapprove and toss him out of the house.

_Everyone lies in this world; intentionally to protect oneself, someone, or something, or by accident, because they were lied to and therefore they spread those lies, with no knowledge that what they are saying are lies. And hurry up. Time may or may not be running out, I do not know. But do be safe, as a favor from me._

Of course. Could it be that Mary was the one that is lying to protect something, someone, or herself?

_But what is she keeping from me?_ Ib thought.

Then she looked and saw that the room was a small library—a few short shelves stuffed with books or various thickness, colors, and heights. Another door stood at the opposite side. Oh boy. More doors.

She could sense Mary's demanding gaze on her. Then, however, the lady on the other side wailed, "Let me in! I will kill you both!"

"Convincing," Mary snapped, turning to the door. "You think we're going to let you kill us that easily? Our goal is to get ourselves out, not die and rot in this lifeless, depressing hole."

"It's a lot better if I kill you, you know. I'll simply eat your rose whole, so you won't suffer anymore! Just fall down dead in less than a second, instead of getting scared and tortured."

"No thank you," Mary said coldly. "I can survive with these cursed wounds, thank you. Now go mind your own business, and shut up!"

"Ugh! Such stubborn fools! I'm trying to help you, dang it, yet you refuse. I swear, you'll never get out," the lady cursed.

All the while, as the two argued with each other, Ib checked the books one by one. More instincts (or were they fragments of memories? Ib asked herself) were telling her that a book near the other door was the key to unlocking it. By pulling it out, it seems.

Ib's finger ran across the spines of the books, testing them to see if they could move. Many did not, but some did; however, those, Ib knew—again: instinct?—were not the right one. After a short while, she had found a book that moved in a straight line when pushed or pulled, but could not move left or right. It was a little strange, but Ib pulled it slightly out anyways. A soft click came from the door.

She turned to check on Mary. She was still arguing, using harsh words against the painting, as the blue lady continued to wail and cry out her words. _Paintings don't have feeling. Bullshit. _Ib scoffed in her mind.

"Hey," she called, calm in her voice, "the door's open."

Mary turned to look. "Alright," she said, her voice still containing an angry edge to it. "Let's go."

"Don't!" screamed the lady. "Oh don't, don't, don't, don't…don't…"

But Mary was already by Ib, opening the door. Ib walked in, and Mary followed behind, shutting the door with a thud.

The soft sobbing could not be heard through the wooden doors.

X

X

I feel bad now.

…Not really, though.

I hurt my friend.

Actually, the lady isn't my friend. She's just someone I'm somewhat familiar with. I can't believe she actually cares for me, crying like that. I only talked to her a few times when I visited these parts. And those visits were rare, since I'd rather stay in the Sketchbook, where I knew where everything was, is, and will be, as I drew out the world on a sketchbook. I didn't fear anything there. Playing with the dolls, drawing silly faces and pretty faces and handsome faces on mannequin heads, chatting with the visiting mannequin statues…

But I still cried every day.

X

X

The purple-blue color and carpet patterns continued onto the next room. It stretched left and right, though not all that far. A small room with a window stuck out on the left, and a door on the right end, opened slightly, left a small crack of space between its frame and the wooden door itself. What's more, a table greeted them on the opposite side.

On it was a light bluish green vase.

And boy, was Ib happy. She couldn't wait to stick her damaged rose into the magical water and heal her up.

"There's a vase over there!" Ib said to Mary. "Except there's only one."

Mary looked at her rose, then Ib's, comparing which one was more injured. "How about you go, Ib," Mary said. "I have one more petal than you."

"…Are you sure?"

"Yes. It's okay, just go. I'm sure we'll find one soon enough."

Ib hesitated, then replied, "Alright, I guess."

She walked to the vase, and took her broken rose out from her pocket. Gently, she dropped it in at the top, so it slowly floated downwards and made barely a sound as it touched the bottom.

_Whoosh._ The rose once again lit up in a white light, making hardly a glow. The shine died down as fast as it appeared. For the second time, a fully bloomed and healthy rose of ten petals replaced the damaged and dirtied rose. Ib picked it up and put it back in her chest pocket of her white shirt, checking the wounds on her. They were gone, and her useless hand could move freely with no pain. The cuts on her legs had vanished, leaving no scars whatsoever.

Then she peeked into the vase, hoping that there may be even a little water for Mary's rose. And to her surprise, there was. However, it was the same amount of water as Ib had first saw it as—in the middle of the vase, right under the inward curve.

"Hey, Mary, there's still water in here. You should heal rose in here," Ib said. Mary took her turn to look at the water, shrugged, and placed her rose in the vase. Just like Ib's, Mary's rose glowed for a second, then faded away, revealing a rose alike Ib's but of a brighter and cheerier yellow.

"It worked," Mary said, raising her eyebrows.

"Of course," Ib said, "it _is_ a magical vase after all. Plus, it seems as if it as infinite amount of water, or uses, since the water amount is still the same."

"We should take it with us," Mary suggested with a little smirk. Ib looked at her in the eye, and gave a grin. "Try."

So Mary grabbed the vase with one hand, as Ib watched from the side. But then she blinked in surprise. "It won't budge."

"What? Really now?" Ib asked in disbelief.

"It's too heavy…"

Rolling her eyes, Ib used her dominant hand, left hand, and tried to pick up the little vase. Indeed, it was heavy. Or it was just super-glued to the table, wasn't sure.

"Well then," Ib sighed. "No point in trying to drag the entire table with us, huh? I guess we'll just have to leave this here."

Mary agreed with a light nod, and looked around.

"We'd better get moving now."

"But we just got healed!" Ib said, wanting to take a break.

"Jeez, you lack such enthusiasm. Don't you feel it though? Like, you feel refreshed after healing the rose?" Mary asked.

Ib fidgeted, moving around. "Oh yeah, huh, I do feel like I'm beginning a new day here."

"Then let's go," Mary sighed, and headed over to the slightly opened door, with Ib following this time.


End file.
